Axel Huette and his focussing tube

[Martin Patek-Strutsky]

Here is a pic showing Axel Huette, one of my all time favourite photographers (btw the camera shown is a 5x7 Plaubel).

Could someone please identify the "focusing tube" Huette is using? I wonder if it can be bought somewhere or if I have to learn sewing to make one myself.

If you are interested in the photographer, you can see some of his pics here .

Regards
Martin

[tim atherton]

Martin,

I too like Axel Hütte's work.

Looks like it may well be home made (pretty easy to do) - fairly similar to the BTZS tubes - though yiou couldn't use one as he is - too cold by the looks of it, and they stiffen up too much. Problem can be getting your hands in there as well. The BTZS cloth you peel open some velcro at the bottom, or slip you hand in past your ear...

There is also a guy making them similar, but with added arm holes - they actually work pretty well - the Quietworks BlackJacket. And it is very lightweight, made of a silverized material of a similar sort to the Harrison Dark cloth. Looks a little odd, but works just fine.

Quite frankly though, if you can steal a girlfriends sewing machine (sexist I know...) the pattern for these is so simple it wouldn't be hard to do.

[Eric Woodbury]

I use these, but had to make them myself. One on the 45 (metal Canham) and one on the 57(Deardorff). Mine are velcroed right to the camera which makes it very dark inside and focussing even the widest of lenses easy. It can be very tricky to figure out a way to velcro to different cameras. Seems as though there is always something in the way, but it can be done. Once done, they 'live' on the camera and I haven't forgotten a darkcloth since.

[Martin Patek-Strutsky]

Thanks. Will give it a try, even if my wife will not be very helpful as her sewing talent is as limited as mine. She has other talents, though.

Could choosing the right cloth become a problem? All the materials I had at hand were either not light tight or too stiff.

Tim, I am glad that you like Axel Huette. The other Becher students owe him a lot. It is a pity that his fame is quite limited while his younger fellows get celebrated by the art market.

[Henry Ambrose]

Try a black T-shirt - the neck hole slips onto the rear of the camera.

[Capocheny]

Martin,

I think the View Camera Store sells a version of the one in the picture... you do see them on Ebay every so often.

I agree with Tim in that the model with the arm sleeves would be much easier to use because of access to the groundglass when using a loupe. The model I have loses its convenience when you have to unzip the velcro in order to use a loupe on the groundglass.

Cheers

[Darin Cozine]

Black t-shirt works great. Only problem with the t-shirt is that you have to carefully remove it to make your exposures.

I used one till I made a dark cloth for myself. You can get an iron-on adhesive strip to hem the cloth, just ask someone at a fabric store. You get better results if you can have someone sew it though.

[tim atherton]

http://www.quietworks.com/FRAMES_FILES/BJ_WELCOME.html

I tested some of the material for them recently in extreme cold (as well as some other fabric samples) - it certainly works down to -42c... though past -30c it stiffens up slightly!

That aside, they also sent me a sample of the actual 4x5 hood. It actually works pretty well (even if it looks a bit weird...). Biggest problem was I'm so used to using a btzs type tube I instinctively kept trying to put my "loupe" hand inside from the tube/head end. But once I got out of the habit slightly, I found it very handy, and it is also extremely light.

I may well go for an 8x10 one.

[Frank Petronio]

More and more often I just slip my shirt or jacket over my head instead of using an official dark cloth. One less thing to worry about, and if you have a good loupe (with dark sides) it works fine unless I'm wearing a white shirt!